Virginia State Sen. Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield) has suspended her congressional campaign. The news comes after the Supreme Court of Virginia approved the Commonwealth’s new congressional map. The new map moves Chase’s residence from within the boundaries of the 7th Congressional District (represented by Democrat Abigail Spanberger) to the 1st District (represented by Republican Rob Wittman).
Chase listed the map change and her opinion that Wittman has done a good job as her reasons for not running.
As The Hill reports:
“I will not challenge a Republican representative who is doing a good job representing the people of their district. I no longer live in the 7th Congressional District, which was represented by Democrat Abigail Spanberger,” Chase, who has previously described herself as “Trump in heels,” said in a statement.
“With that, I plan to finish my 2 years in the Senate of Virginia and discontinue my run for Congress as it is already represented by Republican Rob Wittman,” she continued.
The newly drawn 7th District no longer includes various Richmond area suburbs that made up Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s (D-Va.) base, and instead extends from Caroline County to Madison County, including Fredericksburg and Dale City. Many of the Richmond-area suburbs that used to be in the 7th District are now in the 1st.
Prior to redistricting, Chase was one of several Republicans in the party’s primary to challenge Spanberger in the 7th District. Republican Taylor Keeney also announced last week that she was dropping out of the race.
State Sen. Bryce Reeves (R-Spotsylvania) remains the only Republican running against Spanberger in the redrawn 7th District. With its new boundaries, the 7th has a partisan voter index (PVI) of D+2. That means a generic Democratic candidate should expect to perform two percentage points better in the district than they would if they were running nationwide.